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Thursday, June 27, 2013

You still have a few more days to continue to read all your favorite bloggers' posts before Google Reader ends on July 1st. It's very simple. Go to http://www.bloglovin.com/ and sign up. It took me just a few minutes and done!

1st go to www.bloglovin.com/

It will ask you to create an account.

Then you create the account:

After you create an account- it will ask you if you want to import your favorite blogs from google reader. Just click and it's done.

You will then get an e-mail to validate your account:

Then you can add the bloglovin widget to you blog like you see in the upper left on my blog.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

My friend Ashley is having a HUMONGOUS Giveaway you do not want to miss out on. Besides all the great freebies- digital papers and frames from Ashley and other freebies there are some great products from wonderful teacher/authors that we are giving away. I'm giving away a "Winner"s Choice"- any one item in my store! Here's a sneak peak at the first group of blogger giveaways.

If that's not enough how about products from these wonderful bloggers?

Just click on any of the pictures above to enter- but hurry- it ends at midnight tonight!!!!! Good luck and enjoy the freebies.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Today I am linky up with my special blogging buddy DeAnne over atFirst Grade and Fabulous. During my last 9 years of teaching I was an ESL Resource Specialist at a Title I school in Anchorage Alaska. I saw the most limited English speaking students in Grades K-6 in my morning learning center. I had small groups of students who would come in for an hour to 3 hours a day. It was so important to make them feel welcomed and know that in my class it was safe to take risks and that each and every one was respected. Picture books were a very important part of my daily routine because they could relate to pictures. It also helped to build background for them and learn new words.

One of my favorites was "I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson. It is the perfect book to help ESL students feel good about themselves. It also teaches that it is okay to make a mistake and try again. I always told my students that in my class it was okay to make mistakes as long as they tried their best. After reading, my students would draw a picture of what they liked about themselves.

My other favorite book was "David Goes to School" by David Shannon. David so reminded me of my own son, David, who was always getting in trouble at school. When David graduated college I gave him a copy of the book and we read it and laughed about all the crazy things he did. Now he has a son of his own who luckily didn't take after him when he started school.

It was so easy for my ESL students to understand what was "not" acceptable behavior at school in such a funny way. I loved to listen to them laugh knowing that they understood without even knowing a word of English. It was easy to set some classroom rules after reading it.

I can't wait to go back to DeAnne's linky and read what all the others love reading during Back to School week. Just click on the picture at the top of the post to access all the others who have linked up. How about linking up, too?

Friday, June 21, 2013

Are you looking for some great free resources to get your kids reading all summer long? Well I found some to share with all of you. not only are there reading but writing and crafts, too. While I was reading my e-mails I came across this "Summer Reading Adventures" program at Education.com. You will find all kinds of activities and projects in all subject areas and grade levels to motivate your children over the summer. (click on the image below)

There is a 10 week Summer Reading Camp created in cooperation with PBS Kids and Activities and Worksheets to download. You can sign up for free and get 12 worksheets each month like the one below.

How about making this cute lightning bug craft? There are several for each camp themed week with free directions on how to make them.

How about writing from an Ant's Perspective? How do you think everything looks to an ant?

These are just a few of the the activities from week 1! I can't wait to do some of these with my grandson. He loves bugs!

Looking for some new Pinterest Boards to follow? Just click on the pictures below.

Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your students. I hope you have a wonderful summer and take some time for you!Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sunday, June 9, 2013

I'm so excited to have soooo many new followers and to be blogging again with my new computer! It is truly summer here in Tallahassee and so families are heading to the beach each weekend. Growing up on the east coast I have lots of wonderful memories of fun times at the beach with my cousins. I know that many of you don't live near a beach and many of your students have never been to one. So why not bring the beach to your classroom? I've put together a few resources you can check out and a great freebie for all my new followers and viewers.

I always like to share a list of great books for Shared Reading. Amazon has so many and you can see them all by clicking on the picture below.

Looking for some fun craft ideas? Busy Bees for Kids has several like this sand craft below. Just click on the picture to see them all.

At All Kids.net you will find this fun beach scene that your students can make. It would also be a fun picture to make as a summer activity at home. Just click on the picture to find out all the details.

If you are looking for a whole reading and writing unit about the beach, you might want to check out my revised "At the Beach" K-1 unit by clicking on the picture below. The reading and writing activities are all differentiated at the Early-Emergent and 2 different Emergent levels to meet the needs of all the students in your classroom. There are 3 different leveled guided reading books with different comprehension activities.

Here is a sample of the 3 different guided reading books.

There are 2 different "My Beach" Writing books for your different leveled writers as you can by the samples below:

There is also 1 Informative Text Writing Activity and 1 Opinion Piece Writing Activity and a Word Wall and Picture/Word Card Activities.

When you download the Preview you will get this free Grammar activity below:

I love writing poetry and plays and so my freebie for all of you is this fun Beach Chant and Writing Activity. You can download it by clicking on the picture below.

If you are looking for some great Beach themed Fluency Activities and Tips click HERE

Looking for some great new Pinterest Boards to follow? Check out the ones below by clicking on the pictures.

Thank you for making a difference for your students and for following my blog. I hope you all have a wonderful and well- deserved vacation.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Last fall a few of my blogging buddies Nicole (Rowdy in Room 300), Nicole (Teaching with Style), and Ashley (Teacher's Treasure Chest) got together and gave away some items for free for people who signed up. Not a giveaway where only a few people got it; every single person received the items!!!!! Well, they decided to do it again and recruited theri best blogger friends to join them.! That means that everyone who signs up will get all these items!!!!!

You can receive ALL of this!

To receive the Swimming into Summer items, all you need to do is follow ALL of our blogs and come back and fill out our form. That's it! You can enter now through Sunday, June 9th. We'll start sending them out on Monday, June 10th. You can go to each blog, by clicking on each button below.

Remember, all you need to do to get all of these is just follow each blog and enter using this form. Even if you're already out of school, you can use these next year! :)

Subscribe to our mailing list

Remember! You only have to sign up or subscribe once. You can do that on any of the blogs above. If you get the message that you've already subscribed to "summer frenzy", you are on the list.